NM board set to rule in case of late-term abortion

Posted at: 02/03/2013 1:32 PM
By: The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico medical regulators are poised to rule next week on a case involving a physician who performs late-term abortions at a private clinic in Albuquerque and is accused of gross negligence in a late-term abortion during 2011.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that an attorney for the New Mexico Medical Board maintains Dr. Shelley Sella breached the standard of practice in treating a 26-year-old New York woman who had a uterine rupture during the third day of the procedure to abort a 35-week-old fetus with severe brain abnormalities.

She recovered, but may not be able to carry a future pregnancy to full term.

Sella's attorneys say the allegations of gross negligence are nothing more than a political tactic by a national anti-abortion group that wants to end legal abortions.

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